Human Needs Groups Help Constituents Tell Their Stories

Half in Ten, the campaign to cut poverty in half in ten years, in partnership with the Coalition on Human Needs (CHN), which heads up the "SAVE for All" coalition, have launched the "Stories" website. Together they "are collecting videos and written testimony from affected individuals from across the country that highlight the ways that federal programs successfully build shared prosperity and what cuts to these programs would mean for families, communities and businesses across the country."

Stories already on the site include "Heidi’s Story About Head Start and SCHIP," "Coretta’s Story About Child Care and Development Block Grants," "Jane’s Story About Medicaid" and many more.

Many of the programs highlighted on the "Stories" page – including the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Medicare & Medicaid – have been targeted for significant spending cuts by either the Obama Administration or the Republican leadership in Congress.

According to Half in Ten over 43.5 million Americans live below the official poverty line – approximately $22,000 for a family of four – and nearly 15.5 million children in this country are poor. For additional information on poverty in America and federal assistance programs visit the NPP database and look under "Income Security and Labor."

As more stories come in, Half in Ten and CHN plan to integrate them into an interactive, state-by-state map displaying them with data describing the state’s economic and social situation.